This talk will focus on patterns of protest and the tightening of political controls in Hong Kong during the last few decades, paying particular attention to the 2014 Umbrella Movement and the dramatic events of 2019.

Jeff Wasserstrom, a historian of China who has been visiting Hong Kong regularly since 1987, will draw on his work as a specialist in the history of anti-authoritarian movements in various parts of the world and his work on global cities of Asia. The presentation will showcase ideas in his new short book Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink, which publishes February 11, 2020, in the Columbia Global Reports series. Books will be available ahead of the official publication date.

Details on the book are here

Jeffrey Wasserstrom (UCSC History B.A., 1982) is Chancellor’s Professor of History at UC Irvine.

Sponsored by the History Department and East Asian Studies